2 Second Street

2006

The original part of this house was probably built about 1869 by John Davidson. He sold it the same year to Mrs. Jane York, a widow who took in boarders and conducted a bakery here. In 1897 she sold it to John Coyne, Deputy Attorney General for New York State, who also purchased the house and lot at 4 Second Street. He died of diphtheria in 1900 at the age of 37, never having resided in Geneseo. Mrs. Mary Olmsted purchased this house from the Coyne estate and rented it. In 1921 she sold it to Lewis and Anne Rust who made alterations the following year. Anne Rust died in 1923 and in 1924 Mr. Rust remarried. His widow sold the house in 1942 and it then changed hands several times and deteriorated badly. By 1953 it was in such poor condition that the village of Geneseo suggested the owners, residents of New York City, to repair it or have it removed. The following year the house was almost totally dismantled and rebuilt.